Dimitrov sends letter of intent to fellow Turin hopefuls with Vienna win

  • Posted: Oct 23, 2024

Grigor Dimitrov showed no sign of giving up on the fight to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals with a gutsy opening-round win at the Erste Bank Open on Wednesday.

The third seed kick-started his campaign in Vienna with a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 triumph against China’s Zhang Zhizhen. Dimitrov, who was ousted by Tommy Paul in the Stockholm final last week, bounced back from a sluggish start to clinch a clinical one-hour and 37-minute victory upon return to the Austrian capital.

[ATP APP]

“The conditions from last week to today are so different. In the end, I just had to somehow find a way, but I have so much experience in moments like that,” said Dimitrov, who improved to 44-16 on the season.

“At the beginning, I was playing alright, but I wasn’t able to hit my spots on the serve very well. In the second set, I almost had too many opportunities, but in the last game, I had a little more authority which helped me to step through and put a little more pressure on him.”

In his pursuit of qualifying for a second appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals (champion, 2017), Dimitrov has momentarily reclaimed 10th place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. The 33-year-old trails eight-placed Andrey Rublev by 520 points, who is the top seed in Basel this week.

Dimitrov leads the Tour with indoor hard-court match wins in 2024 (11-5), and could strengthen his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals with strong runs in Vienna and at the Rolex Paris Masters.

After dropping serve in the opening game, Dimitrov sprung to life to convert both of the two break points he created, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to steal the first set. Zhang hung tight and kept within touching distance throughout the second, before eventually creating two more break chances of his own in the 11th game.

However, Dimitrov found two ferocious forehand winners to come through the game unscathed before sealing an ultimately decisive break to clinch victory. Dimitrov will next face Tomas Machac, who surged to a 7-6(5), 6-1 triumph against Fabian Marozsan.

[NEWSLETTER FORM]

Source link